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Police begin big push to rid Stamford of abandoned cars

During a crackdown on abandoned cars around Stamford, police have been affixing these stickers, warning owners that their vehicles could be towed away.

During a crackdown on abandoned cars around Stamford, police have been affixing these stickers, warning owners that their vehicles could be towed away.

Photo: Stamford Police / Contributed

Photo: Stamford Police / Contributed

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During a crackdown on abandoned cars around Stamford, police have been affixing these stickers, warning owners that their vehicles could be towed away.

During a crackdown on abandoned cars around Stamford, police have been affixing these stickers, warning owners that their vehicles could be towed away.

Photo: Stamford Police / Contributed

Police begin big push to rid Stamford of abandoned cars

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STAMFORD — Police are cracking down on abandoned cars all over the city, and over the past two days put stickers on 65 vehicles, warning their owners that the broken down heaps could be towed away.

Leading the effort is patrol Lt. Eugene Dohmann, who said the officers are trying to clear up a long running topic of public complaint about cars being left to rot on the street.

“It is getting to the point that there are just too many abandoned cars around taking up valuable parking spaces,” Dohmann said. “People are very concerned about robberies or drug dealing as they should be, but it doesn’t effect people like having an old abandoned car in front of your home.”

On Monday, patrol Sgt. Larry Brown came in and directed his officers to begin tagging cars that it was obvious to see had been sitting on the street in the same place for more than 120 hours or five days, which is the limit anyone can legally park their car on a city street. Twenty-seven vehicles believed to have been abandoned were tagged on the West Side on Monday.

Beginning Tuesday morning, officers began tagging another 27 cars downtown and in the South End. Eleven more were tagged on the East Side, Dohmann said.

Dohman said on Wednesday patrol officers will turn their attention to Glenbrook, Sprindale and the northern reaches of the city.

“The cars we are really addressing are those vehicles that have been left to decay and nobody is going back for them.. Many are unregistered and have flat tires. It is not hard to find them and they are an eyesore to the community,” Dohmann said.

If the vehicles are unregistered or have the wrong license plates on them they could be towed 24 hours after the vehicles have been stickered.